Papa, Can You Hear Me?
by Lyra Silvertongue
Summary: The story of Sarah Martin, a troubled young Slytherin girl who's wish to be a Gryffindor like her beloved late father makes her the outcast of the Slytherin House.


Sarah ran into the library, her head down, tears streaming down her pale face. Thoughts of anger rushed through her mind. Why had Pansy been so hateful? Why did the other Slytherins delight in torturing her. And, most of all, why did she put up with it????? She sat down at a small table in a corner, as far away from Madam Pince's sharp-eyed glance as possible, buried her head in her arms, and reflected on her life at Hogwarts, and the pain that she had experienced in her life.  
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Sarah sat alone in the compartment on the Hogwarts Express, thinking. This would be her first year at Hogwarts, the first time that she had left the orphanage in two years. Her thoughts turned to school houses. Which house would she be sorted into? She hoped with all her heart that it would be Gryffindor. Her father had been in Gryffindor years ago, and Sarah wanted nothing more than to be like her father. Jack Martin had been the best father in the world to Sarah, and she had loved him dearly. The day he died was still vivid in her mind...since then, she talked to him regularly, as if she was praying. She felt that he could hear her, that he was watching over her, and she wanted him to be proud of her. However, there was another alternative...the house that her mother had been in. Her mother...how Sarah hated her! She couldn't remember much about her, since Vanessa Blaine Martin had left the family when Sarah was a tiny infant, left to find her true calling as a Death Eater. Vanessa had been in Slytherin, and Sarah's greatest fear was that she too would be sorted into that undesirable house.  
Finally, the train arrived at Hogwarts. Before she knew it, Sarah found herself sitting on the stool, the Sorting Hat perched on her head. Her heart stood still, as she listened to the hat: "I see great talent here...goodness yes...ambition...cleverness...best be SLYTHERIN!!" Sarah's heart dropped through her stomach as she went to join the Slytherin table. Looking around her, Sarah thought that all of the Slytherins looked extremely unpleasant, but her thoughts were not primarily on the other Slytherins. She couldn't stop thinking, "What would Papa say? Oh, how could the Hat do this to me??" She noticed an ugly, somewhat fat Slytherin girl staring at her and whispering to another Slytherin girl. Sarah sighed. Did she really look so out of place here? She looked at her reflection in her goblet: a pale, thin girl with limpid blue eyes and light-blonde hair, a gentle expression, with some fear in her doe-like eyes. Yes, she did look quite out-of-place at this table of big-boned brutish-looking people...all except for that one boy, the skinny, pale-haired one with the gray eyes. Still, thought Sarah, he doesn't look terribly pleasant either. Propping her head on her hands, she fell back into her sorrowful reverie.  
  
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Six months later:   
Sarah sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, as far away from her fellow Slytherins as possible.. The other Slytherins had never accepted her as one of them...they all knew about her father and how much she wanted to be a Gryffindor. One day, she'd heard Draco Malfoy (that asshole!) talking about her:  
"It's surprising, really," drawled Draco, "how a wonderful Death Eater like Vanessa Blaine could have such a wishy-washy little daughter. My father knew her mother well, and he said that she was a bloody genius, but she made a mistake by running off with that Gryffindor scum and having a kid like Sarah." During that little speech, Sarah had been sitting with a book nearby, thinking things not lawful to be uttered, but not having the courage to stand up and say anything.  
Ever since she heard Draco's comments about her, Sarah had taken particular pains to keep herself separate from the other Slytherins, so she wouldn't have to be subjected to their ridicule. However, during meals she had little choice but to sit with the others, being completely ignored. That day in particular, Sarah looked wistfully at the Gryffindor table, wishing that she could join them. She sighed resignedly, picking up a jug of milk. However, instead of pouring it into her goblet, she accidentally spilled it onto Pansy Parkinson's lap. Pansy's eyes blazed with anger as she turned on little Sarah, who had turned white as a sheet. "Watch what your doing, bitch!" she hissed, glaring at Sarah.   
"Sorry," mumbled Sarah, handing Pansy a napkin. Pansy snatched it from her, sneering.   
"Well, of course you're so clumsy, since you've been in your own little world, staring at the Gryffindors over there," Pansy said. "I bet you wish you were one of them, right? A Gryffindor, just like your stupid father!"   
Sarah's eyes blazed up. "Don't you dare talk about my father that way, you fat cow!" she shrieked. The whole Slytherin table turned to stare at her.   
Millicent Bulstrode, who had been talking to Pansy before, turned on Sarah. "Watch your mouth, you little piece of slime! You don't deserve to be a Slytherin!"  
"I suppose," drawled Draco, who couldn't resist putting his two-cents in, "that not everything is hereditary, eh, Sarah? Your mother was a great witch, which is something you'll obviously never be, you're being a mealy-mouthed little mouse!"  
"Aww.." Pansy said, smirking, "you're not gonna cry, are you?"  
Sarah stood up and ran from the table, sobbing quietly.   
Over at the Gryffindor table, Hermione Granger watched Sarah leave. "I wonder what happened to her?" Hermione muttered to Ron and Harry. "She looked absolutely miserable!"   
"I guess the Slytherins were picking on her again," Ron said. "She's in our Potions class, remember? Pansy and Millicent are always teasing her about something or other."  
Hermione frowned. "Maybe I should go see what's wrong with her.." She stood up. "I gotta go to the library, anyway, so I'll see if Sarah's there."  
  
Hermione arrived at the library, and, sure enough, she heard sniffles coming from the other side of the room. She walked over to the table where Sarah was crying, and held a handkerchief out for her.   
"Thank you.." whispered Sarah, wiping her face with the handkerchief.   
"Are you all right?" asked Hermione, looking at Sarah with concern.  
"Yes...noooo," Sarah sniffled. "Its just that the other Slytherins were giving me a hard time, that's all."   
Hermione patted Sarah on the shoulder. "It's all right, they're just jerks, anyway," she said, trying to comfort Sarah. Sarah looked up at Hermione, a small smile on her face. "Yeah.." she said. She held out her hand. "I'm Sarah Martin," she said.  
Hermione shook Sarah's hand. "I'm Hermione Granger, pleased to meet you." Suddenly, Hermione had an idea. "D'you want to come for a walk to the lake with Harry, Ron, and me?" Sarah nodded. "Yes, that'd be splendid." Her heart leaped. For the first time since her father's death, she felt truly happy. She had a friend, finally she had a friend. As she walked out of the library, she whispered to the sky, "I'm gonna be all right, Papa, I know I'll be all right now."   



End file.
